There is no shortage of conspiracy theories surrounding Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old charged with murder in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
But a new theory circulating online does not claim he is innocent, unlike several other popular conspiracies positing that Mangione is a patsy or that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was secretly behind the plot.
This conspiracy has nothing to do with his innocence or guilt—but everything to do with how Mangione was caught.
Mangione was arrested by authorities after he was recognized dining inside a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania and a fast food worker called the police.
Upon being asked if he'd recently been to New York, police said Mangione "became quiet and started to shake." He was found with a 3D-printed gun, fake New Jersey ID, and manifesto on him.
Some skeptics online think something is missing from that timeline of events: facial recognition technology.
In the wake of the crime, a prominent Fox News commentator said the NYPD told him facial recognition would be key to catching Mangione.
"NYPD police sources say artificial intelligence is going to play a big role in nailing the ID of the gunman who killed the United Health CEO. His mask, they point out, didn't totally cover his face. Bone structure was showing through the rest of it, and AI will come up with a pretty clear match they believe," Charles Gasparino wrote.
A day before Mangione was arrested, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said police had identified a name for the suspect. They have yet to reveal how they found that name, or if that name was Mangione.
So while it is possible facial recognition tech was used to identify him, people online are taking it a step further.
Wrote one, "it's increasingly looking like law enforcement used possibly illegal unknown facial recognition software on McDonald’s self service kiosk to track him and are constructing parallel narratives to hide that fact."
"random woman in PA happened to think he looked like the shooter and called in a tip does not pass the smell test," the user added. "Textbook parallel construction. McDonald’s facial recognition popped him. But they don’t want us to know they have that capability."
But it's not just one person floating the theory.
"Considering Mangione’s efforts to conceal his identity, it’s improbable that a fast-food employee could identify him based solely on limited public images. We’re talking about a high-pressure, fast-paced environment where employees process hundreds of customers daily," another person wrote, adding: "But what if the real key to his capture wasn’t human recognition at all?"
"Admitting the feds are running real-time facial recognition surveillance across the country would spark outrage," they added. "Instead, they sell a more 'believable' narrative that a heroic employee saved the day."
"There’s some facial recognition bullshit going on at McDonald’s," concluded someone else. "There is no way a human made this match."
Others online did not explicitly tie Mangione's capture to technology in McDonald's but echoed the sentiment that he was likely to have been illegally surveilled prior to his arrest.
"The arrest of the Luigi guy just showed Americans that they live in a surveillance state and they're not even shook by it. Amazing stuff," remarked one person.
Mused someone else: "It seems increasingly likely that mass surveillance software with AI facial recognition technology was used to capture him, and the police are painting a false narrative to avoid mass outrage."
The theory is built on the backs of some kernels of truth.
McDonald's has experimented with AI technology in the past, including scanning license plates in drive-thrus (with customers' permission) to predict orders and using voice recognition technology. In China, customers were given the option to pay using facial recognition via the terminal provider Telpo.
The company also bought a tech startup that can use AI to customize the menu display based on weather, time of day, and how busy the restaurant is—and can recommend additional items to purchase based on what is initially added by the customer.
However, there's no evidence to suggest that McDonald's has secretly rolled out AI facial recognition systems in its restaurants.
Some believers in the conspiracy point to a project listed on Point Jupiter, which says it developed a facial recognition project for a "McDonald’s conference."
Point Jupiter is a tech startup that builds "data-informed digital products." It claims to have built "a new state-of-the-art face recognition software to McDonald’s digital kiosks."
Their product page discusses kiosks with integrated cameras that scan customers' faces and "recognize the user’s gender, estimated age, and sentiment. Along with knowing the time of the day and the current weather, it displays a suitable meal recommendation."
The kiosks have not been reported to have been rolled out, meaning McDonald's would have had to secretly implement the kiosks across the nation (or at just one lucky location), while also secretly integrating them with the federal government.
But that hasn't stopped posters from claiming they exist.
"I’ll bet you didn’t know McDonald’s kiosk cameras have facial recognition technology," wrote one prominent pusher of the theory, using the conference presentation as fact.
"Given the integration of this technology, it’s not unlikely that federal agencies can access these systems for surveillance with real-time facial recognition across multiple venues."
Or, as some believers in a different theory pointed out while wearing a mask in New York City can help evade detection, in rural Pennsylvania, it's suspicious as heck.
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